Geithner takes private equity job

Tim Geithner, who stepped down as Treasury Secretary in January, will start in March as president and managing director of private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who has spent virtually his entire career working for the government, is taking a job in finance.

Warburg Pincus, a firm engaged in buying and selling companies, said Saturday that Geithner will start at the firm as president and managing director in March.

Geithner told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the move, that he will play a "substantive role in helping ... manage the firm."

In a statement, Warburg Pincus said Geithner will "work closely" with its co-chief executives on strategy, management and investing.

A mainstay of President Obama's first-term cabinet, Geithner was an architect of the government's response to the financial crisis.

Geithner was widely associated with the TARP bank rescue, which was ushered through Congress by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and then managed by Geithner after the Bush-Obama transition.

The controversial TARP was seen by some as a bailout of fat cat bankers. And some credited it with stabilizing the economy and helping avoid a deeper recession.

The day word leaked that Obama would name Geithner to lead Treasury, in the tumultuous period after the 2008 election, the Dow gained nearly 500 points.

Top 10 Value Companies To Buy For 2014

When the crisis began, Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve, which helps oversee Wall Street. All told, he ran the New York Fed from 2003 until 2009.

Geithner, 52, left Washington in January 2013 and was succeeded by Jack Lew as Treasury chief. He first went to work at Treasury in 1988 and was later a top deputy to Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Larry Summers.

Reports surfaced after he left office that Geithner is writing a book about the financial crisis.

Warburg Pincus, established nearly 50 years ago, is a top player in private equity and manages $35 billion in assets.

In a deal this summer, Warburg sold eyecare specialist Bausch & Lomb to Valeant Pharmaceuticals for $8.7 billion. Years earlier, Warburg had led a private takeover of Bausch & Lomb.

Warburg did not disclose Geithner's compensation.

S&P 500 edges lower, but Dow ekes out gains

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The S&P 500 index ended slightly lower on Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a small gain after global powers agreed a deal with Iran to curb the nation's nuclear program.

The market just showed a little fatigue on Monday afternoon after strong action in recent weeks, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.

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"It's just normal growing pains," he told MarketWatch, adding that it's a holiday-shortened week and volume is light so the market's gyrations can be somewhat exaggerated.

The Nasdaq Composite (COMP)  briefly topped 4,000 on Monday, but the tech-heavy index couldn't finish above that milestone level that it last closed above since September 2000. It ended up 2.92 points, or about 0.1%, at 3,994.57.

The S&P 500 index (SPX)  fell 2.28 points, or about 0.1%, to end at 1,802.48, pulling back from Friday's record close but staying above its milestone level of 1,800.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)  rose 7.77 points, or less than 0.1%, to finish at 16,072.54, scoring another record close and pushing further above the 16,000 mark.

Click to Play Iran and global powers reach deal

Oil prices fell in Asia as traders digested the implications of the weekend deal on Iran's nuclear program. The WSJ's Markets and Energy editors, Jake Lee and Simon Hall, discuss how the deal has reduced one potential Middle East flashpoint.

Over the weekend, Iran and six global powers including the U.S. reached a six-month agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program. Some economic sanctions on Iran will be eased as part of the deal, but core sanctions on Iran's banking and oil trade will remain in place.

The Iran deal pressured oil prices, with January crude futures (CLF4)  falling 75 cents to settle at $94.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Lower oil prices are good for growth and that's good for stocks, said Henrik Drusebjerg, strategist at Nordea Bank.

"We're almost through reporting season for companies in the U.S. and Europe, and one thing that is common for everybody is earnings are falling or stable, so very few companies are able to increase earnings," Drusebjerg said. "So if we want to see increased earnings, we want to see increased growth, and lower oil prices would definitely help that."

Today's market-moving news: Traders viewed the Iran deal as Monday's main headline. Read more about the market's winners and losers from that agreement. The economic data calendar was light, with pending U.S. home sales serving as the highlight. The pace of pending home sales fell in October for the fifth straight month, a trade group said.

Today's movers & shakers: J.C. Penney Co. (JCP)  rose 3.6% despite news late Friday that the ailing retailer is leaving the S&P 500, while software maker Workday Inc. (WDAY)  fell 1% ahead of its earnings report after the close. Read more in the Movers & Shakers column.

The buzz: Fear of investing at market peaks is understandable, but for longer-term investors, market levels have no predictive power, according to an Alliance Bernstein strategist cited in the latest Need To Know column. Meanwhile, before investors get "too merry" as the holidays begin, they need to recognize "the simple truth that now good growth better come," said Deutsche Bank strategists on Monday. Factors like an accommodative Federal Reserve and not-yet expensive valuations will "assist the market in 2014, but healthy [earnings-per-share] growth is now a must," they wrote in a note.

Other markets: European stocks closed mostly higher, while Asian equities finished mixed.

Halloween spending seen cooling down this year

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Consumers are spooked this Halloween -- and it's not just the ghosts, goblins, and ghouls.

Fewer people plan to celebrate the holiday this year, and those who are plan to spend less, according to one survey. Another predicted spending would increase over last year, but at a much slower pace.

The National Retail Federation estimated nearly $7 billion would be spent this year on costumes, candy and artificial cobwebs, about $1 billion less than last year. That translates to an average of about $4.79 less per Halloween reveler. It based those numbers on a survey of almost 5,300 adults.

Separately, IBISWorld projected Halloween spending would grow 3%, down from nearly 18% last season. It estimated the largest spending growth would be for decorations.

The holiday comes as people are generally uncertain or pessimistic about the economy. Consumer confidence dropped this month amid fiscal brinksmanship in Washington. Two-thirds think the U.S. economy is on the decline, according to Gallup survey data.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Own Right Now

But despite this year's sluggish outlook, Halloween spending has been on a tear.

Spending has grown 55% since 2005. The only year-over-year drop was in the fall of 2009, when spending dropped about $1 billion from Halloween 2008, after the housing market collapse dealt the country a major blow.

  A Hyundai for the zombie apocalypse

It's not just kids getting in on the fun. According to the NRF, the $1.22 billion forecasted business in adult costumes outpaces the $1.04 billion spent on child costumes. And 13% of survey respondents plan to dress up their pets -- spending a combined $330 million to get Spot and Fluffy in on the act.

It's not all bad news for retailers. The NRF predicted November and December retail sales to grow nearly 4%. Customers will spend just over $600 billion this year, they forecasted.

5 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now

When it comes to great investors, they don't get much better than Warren Buffett. Through shrewd investments in stocks and entire companies that he bought, Buffett has grown his Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A  ) (NYSE: BRK-B  ) company's per-share book value by an annual average of 19.7% between 1965 and 2012. That's a total gain of more than 586,000%. The company's stock has grown by about about million percent since 1965, enough to turn a $10,000 investment into roughly $100 million. So we can agree that the guy knows a thing or two about investing, right? Thus, it would be smart to heed his investment advice. Let's a look at some of his nuggets of wisdom.

Be optimistic
"Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts, the Depression, a dozen or so recessions and financial panics, oil shocks, a flu epidemic, and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497."

5 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Tesoro Logistics LP(TLLP)

Tesoro Logistics LP engages in the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of crude oil and refined products logistics assets in the United States. The company is involved in the gathering, terminalling, transportation, and storage of crude oil and refined products. Its assets consist of a crude oil gathering system in the Bakken Shale/Williston Basin area of North Dakota and Montana; eight refined products terminals in the midwestern and western United States; a crude oil and refined products storage facility; and five related short-haul pipelines. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in San Antonio, Texas. Tesoro Logistics LP is a subsidiary of Tesoro Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Yesterday, Tesoro Corp. (TSO) sold a bunch of assets to Tesoro Logistics (TLLP) for $650 million, the second “drop-down,” or sale of assets by a parent company to a partnership.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Tesoro Logistics LP(TLLP), a company spun off in 2011 by oil refiner Tesoro Corp.(TSO), agreed to pay its former parent $650 million to acquire Los Angeles assets that include two marine terminals and a pipeline system.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Tesoro Logistics L.P. (NYSE: TLLP) is an Oppenheimer favorite, especially after the pullback in the stock price. The company has strong fee-based contracts that increase the likelihood of consistent increases in the distribution. The Oppenheimer price target is posted at $61, while the consensus is at $63. Shareholder are paid a 3.8% distribution.

5 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Progress Energy Inc.(PGN)

Progress Energy, Inc., a utility holding company, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. It uses coal, oil, hydroelectric, natural gas, and nuclear power to generate electricity. The company also engages in various alternative energy projects to generate electricity from swine waste and other plant or animal sources, biomass, solar, hydrogen, and landfill-gas technologies. Progress Energy serves various industries, including chemicals, textiles, paper, food, metals, wood products, rubber and plastics, and stone products, as well as phosphate rock mining and processing, electronics design and manufacturing, and citrus and other food processing. It has approximately 22,000 megawatts of regulated electric generation capacity and serves approximately 3.1 million retail electric customers, as well as other load-serving entities. The company was formerly known as CP&L Energy, Inc. Progress En ergy, Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon] ess Energy shares climbed over 2011 as the company announced in January it would merge with Duke Energy. Together, they will form the nation�� largest utility with a combined enterprise value of $65 billion and $37 billion in market cap. The new company will have 57 gigawatts of domestic generating capacity through a mix of coal, nuclear, natural gas, oil and renewable resources. Progress energy shareholders will receive an approximately 3 percent dividend increase.

  Incidentally, development of a comprehensive energy policy was one of what Grantham called ��he most important and most dangerous issues��facing the world.

  Progress is at the forefront of the push for nuclear energy in the U.S., which has been deemed the ��uclear renaissance.��Thirty-five percent of the electricity used by Progress Energy customers comes from one of their four nuclear sites, two in North Carolina, and one each in South Carolina and Florida. It plans to build another reactor in Levy County, Florida.

  Revenue at Progress Energy has declined at a 2.6% annual rate over the past five years, and it achieved cash flow of $95 million in 2010, after three years of losses. Earnings have remained positive, reaching a record for the decade of $856 million in 2010.

  RSC Holdings (RRR)

  RSC is a machinery rental service for construction, industrial, petrochemical, governmental and manufacturing businesses in the U.S. and Canada. RSC tends to benefit in economic downturns, as more businesses turn to renting rather than buying equipment to cut costs. Rented equipment rose 20.7% percent (the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth) and rental revenue increased 27% in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to last year.

  United Rentals (URI), one of RSC�� largest competitors, had a rental revenue increase of 18.5% in the fourth quarter compared to last year, which included a 6.7% increase in rental rates.

  The company�� fleet utilization also

Top Financial Companies To Watch For 2014: Great Wolf Resorts Inc.(WOLF)

Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a family entertainment resort company in North America. It owns, licenses, operates, and develops drive-to destination family resorts featuring indoor water parks and other family-oriented entertainment activities under the Great Wolf Lodge brand name. The company?s resorts features a combination of amenities, including themed restaurants, ice cream shop and confectionery, full-service adult spa, kid spa, game arcade, gift shop, miniature golf, interactive game attraction, family tech center, and meeting space. As of December 31, 2011, it operated 11 Great Wolf Lodge resorts located in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; Sandusky, Ohio; Traverse City, Michigan; Kansas City, Kansas; Williamsburg, Virginia; Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania; Niagara Falls, Ontario; Mason, Ohio; Grapevine, Texas; Grand Mound, Washington; and Concord, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Madison, Wis consin.

5 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Maple Leaf Reforestation Inc. (MPE.V)

Maple Leaf Green World Inc. operates in the environmental industry primarily in China. The company operates a nursery business in inner Mongolia that focuses on growing tree seedlings and nursery products, which assist with antidesertification. It also focuses on a Yellowhorn seedling and tree operations, which provide Yellowhorn seeds and oil for the manufacture of bio-diesel fuel and cooking oils. The company was formerly known as Maple Leaf Reforestation Inc. and changed its name to Maple Lead Green World Inc. in October 2012. Maple Lead Green World Inc. is based in Calgary, Canada.

5 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Data#3 Ltd (DTL.AX)

Data#3 Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides information and communication technology (ICT) solutions company in Australia and the Asia Pacific. The company provides software licensing, software asset management, and workforce productivity solutions to optimize and manage the acquisition and use of software licensed in volume from global manufacturers; integrated solutions to design and deploy hardware and software infrastructure for the desktop, network, and data centre; and product solutions for procuring, configuring, rolling-out, and disposing of technology cost effectively. It also offers managed services to provide outsourced solutions for infrastructure operations, support, and maintenance; and people solutions to provide contract and permanent recruitment and human capital performance management. The company�s services include strategic consulting, software licensing, asset management, business productivity, SaaS, security, hardware procurement and lif ecycle management, mobility, recruitment and HR, managed operations and support, maintenance, IaaS, end-user support, datacenter, virtualization, systems management, network integration, disaster recovery, collaboration, end-user computing, and enterprise productivity applications. The company serves a range of industries, including banking and finance, mining, tourism and leisure, legal, healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, government, and utilities sectors. Data#3 Limited was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Toowong, Australia.

Stores Get Stingy About Returns

As you're double-checking your holiday shopping list, tack on a reminder to read each store's return policy before making your purchase. Some retailers are feeling a little less generous when it comes to returns. That even includes REI, an outdoor gear and sporting goods retailer long known for its no-time-limit and no-questions-asked return policy. The store recently trimmed its return window to one year, unless the merchandise is defective. To deter "wardrobing" -- the practice of buying, using and then returning a product (usually clothing) for a refund -- Bloomingdale's recently began tagging some of its apparel with conspicuous plastic tags. If a tag is removed, shoppers can't return the item.

SEE ALSO: Why You Should Start Your Holiday Shopping Now

Stingier policies are intended to combat return fraud. Last year, fraudulent returns cost retailers $8.9 billion, according to the National Retail Federation, $2.9 billion of which occurred during the holiday season. Reports of wardrobing increased 40% from 2009 to 2012, says the NRF.

Customers can expect tougher return policies to spread. "As retailers see competitors or stores with some of the most lenient policies tighten up, it's going to signal to them that they can do the same," says Phoenix retail consultant Jeff Green. "We're going to see a shift toward a shorter, 30-day return policy in 2014." Customers can also expect added scrutiny when taking back merchandise without a receipt.

Retailers want to identify the bad actors. To do so, some companies are gathering data on customers who return merchandise, watching for suspicious patterns and warning or denying repeat offenders. Clerks may ask for state-issued identification, such as a driver's license, before you can make a return. Nearly 10% of retailers require ID for returns made with a receipt, and 73% require ID for returns made without a receipt. Some scan the ID into their own system; others send the info to a third party. If you exceed a retailer's limit for the number of returns within a given time frame or for the value of returned products, you could be denied more returns for a period of time (typically 90 days). If you are given a warning or denied a return, the Retail Equation, a company that collects return information for 27,000 merchants in North America, will provide you with the information in its return-activity report over the phone. To request your report, visit www.theretailequation.com/consumers.

Despite the general trend toward Grinchier return policies, some retailers are giving shoppers a break during the holidays or when shopping online. Last year, 10% of retailers relaxed their return policies for the holidays, and similar promotions are expected this year. Lenient online return policies and acceptance of returns in stores for items bought online will likely continue. Look for free shipping for both purchases and returns, which Neiman Marcus debuted in October.

As policies shift, the key to hassle-free returns will be staying organized. The ReturnGuru app, free for iPhone and Android, lets you snap pictures of your receipts, then saves them and reminds you as the deadline approaches to make returns. The new rules may take some getting used to. But if you expect great deals, that's part of the trade-off.

The Deal: AMR Secures Plan Confirmation at Last

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) has passed its final bankruptcy test and now can look ahead to a Nov. 25 antitrust trial with the Department of Justice.

Judge Sean H. Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan on Thursday, Sept. 12, conditionally confirmed the plan, centered on an $11 billion merger of AMR and US Airways Group (LCC).

AMR was originally set for an Aug. 15 confirmation hearing before the DOJ filed its suit against the merger on Aug. 13, causing Lane to postpone the hearing to Aug. 29 and then Sept. 12 while determining whether to confirm the plan.

"There can be no dispute that the plan is feasible if the merger is allowed to proceed," Lane said. "The real issue here is whether the pendency of the DOJ lawsuit acts as a separate bar to feasibility, and the court concludes that it does not." The DOJ was joined in its action Aug. 13 by attorneys general from six states and the District of Columbia. The government plaintiffs asserted the merger, which would form the world's largest airline, would substantially lessen competition for commercial air travel in local markets throughout the U.S. and result in passengers paying higher airfares and fees for ancillary services while receiving less service overall. Lane noted the DOJ filed a notice on Aug. 23 that said despite the suit, the agency did not object to confirmation. "The court agrees that the processes can and should proceed concurrently," Lane said. "Is there a benefit to act now? The court concludes that there is." In a Thursday statement, AMR spokesman Mike Trevino said: "The judge's ruling today shows that American is heading in the right direction. This is yet another important milestone in completing one of the most successful turnarounds in commercial aviation. We are focused on the antitrust case and will show that our planned merger with US Airways is good for consumers and competition." Lane, meanwhile, rejected a section of the plan that would have given AMR CEO Tom Horton a $19.88 million severance payment, calling it "impermissible under the Bankruptcy Code."

U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis had objected to the plan based on the Horton payment.

"All the hard work Mr. Horton did was his job, as the CEO of an international airline now in bankruptcy," Davis counsel Susan Golden said at the Aug. 15 hearing. "If he didn't do his best to work hard and maximize the value of this estate, it would have been a breach of duty."

Debtor counsel Stephen Karotkin of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP said Horton had agreed not to fight the ruling if Lane rejected the payment. Karotkin said the debtor would revise the plan at a Sept. 18 board of directors meeting to remove the severance payment. A Thursday statement from AMR said Horton "feels that any delay or uncertainty places a further burden" on all parties involved with the plan.

Under AMR's reorganization plan, first filed April 15, secured creditors would be paid in full in cash, with the sale proceeds of their collateral or with the return of the collateral securing their claims. Secured claims include $6.78 billion in secured aircraft claims and $3.47 billion in other secured claims. Priority claims ($356.7 million) and administrative claims ($290.4 million) would be paid in full on the effective date. Priority tax claims would be paid in full within five years. Unsecured creditors would receive a pro rata share of new mandatorily convertible preferred stock. AMR owes an estimated $967.13 million in unsecured claims and $700,000 in other general unsecured claims, unit American Airlines Inc. owes $1.97 billion, and unit AMR Eagle Holding Corp. has $20.2 million in unsecured claims. Convenience claims against AMR Eagle ($2.5 million) and American Airlines ($7.5 million) would be paid in full. US Airways shareholders would get one share of common stock in the new airline at 1 cent per share for each of their shares, for a total of 28% of the diluted equity interests in the new company. The remaining 72% would be distributable to unsecured creditors, labor unions, certain employees and holders of AMR equity interests. The U.S. Airline Pilots Association would get 13.5% of new common stock, the Transport Workers Union of America AFL-CIO would get 4.8%, and the Association of Flight Attendants would get 3%. The unions are owed $1.72 billion.

All of the unions have issued statements critical of the DOJ and supporting the merger.

AMR would fund the plan with $3.25 billion in exit financing that would be secured by slots, gates and route authorities that are used to operate nonstop scheduled air carrier services between the U.S. and South America, Mexico and Central America. AMR on May 31 filed the financing motions under seal.

Lane on May 9 authorized AMR to obtain a $2.25 billion exit term loan and a $1 billion exit revolver. The term loan will be available to AMR during its bankruptcy but will convert to an exit facility on the debtor's emergence from Chapter 11. The revolver will only be available on the airline's bankruptcy exit.

Lane approved the disclosure statement for the plan on June 4. AMR was the only major U.S. airline that had not sought Chapter 11 protection until Nov. 29, 2011, when it filed its petition. AMR blamed its bankruptcy on weak financial performance since 2009, which has left the Fort Worth company behind its major rivals, many of which restructured and emerged from bankruptcy before 2009. AMR was hurt further by an uncertain economic outlook, volatile fuel prices, an uncompetitive cost structure and a diminishing financial condition, which had been the subject of industry analyst reports and the cause of speculation about a possible bankruptcy filing. Thomas A. Roberts, Glenn D. West and Alfredo P�rez of Weil Gotshal are also debtor counsel. Jones Day's Joe Sims and J. Bruce McDonald, Paul Hastings LLP's MJ Moltenbrey, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and K&L Gates LLP are AMR's legal advisers. Rothschild's Christopher Lawrence, Homer Parkhill, Yusik Choi and Matt Chou are the airline's financial advisers. Sims is representing AMR in the DOJ lawsuit. A Barclays plc team including Josh Connor, Ben Metzger, Kristin Healy and Larry Hamdan joined with Jim Millstein of Millstein & Co. LLC to serve as financial advisers to US Airways. Latham & Watkins LLP's Peter F. Kerman, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP and Dechert LLP's Paul T. Denis, Gorav Jindal and Rani Habash provide legal counsel to US Air.

O'Melveny antitrust litigator Richard Parker, a former director of the competition bureau at the Federal Trade Commission, is representing the airline in the DOJ lawsuit, along with Dechert's Denis.

A Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP team led by John Butler and Jay Goffman, working with Togut, Segal & Segal LLP, are counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors. Moelis & Co. LLC's William Derrough, Gregg Polle and Zul Jamal, along with Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc., are financial advisers to the committee.

Gerard Uzzi and Tom Janson of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP and Eric Siegert of Houlihan Lokey Inc. represent an ad hoc committee of AMR creditors that signed a plan support agreement.

Seabury Group LLC and Amy Caton of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP represent Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Law Debenture Trust Co. of New York LLC as indenture trustees in connection with the merger negotiations. -- Written by Pat Holohan in New York

Dollar gains on yen, slips versus euro

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar posted a mixed performance on Thursday as Federal Reserve chairwoman nominee Janet Yellen emphasized the effectiveness of quantitative easing in stimulating the economy.

In answering questions from the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen cautioned against withdrawing stimulus too early and said it has had a meaningful impact on the economy.

Her remarks were in line with her prepared remarks released Wednesday, which led to some dollar weakness, and her previous stance, said Jens Nordvig, global head of currency strategy and head of fixed income research Americas at Nomura Securities. "She very much sounds like the Yellen we know," he said.

Getty Images Enlarge Image

The ICE dollar index (DXY) , a measure of the U.S. unit against six other currencies, inched down to 80.918 from 80.938 on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the WSJ Dollar Index (XX:BUXX) increased to 73.33 from 73.15.

The Fed's program of buying $85 billion a month in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities has been seen as putting pressure on the greenback's value. Many analysts consider Yellen as more dovish than Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

But the Fed has also indicated that it plans to reduce the monthly amount of debt it buys, with improvement in the labor market as a key factor in its timing decision. The dollar jumped last Friday after a better-than-expected October jobs report spurred speculation that the Fed may begin reducing stimulus at its December meeting.

On the data front, U.S. jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 339,000 for the week ended Nov. 9, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists had expected claims of 335,000, adjusted for seasonality, according to a MarketWatch poll. Separately, the U.S. trade deficit widened in September for the third month in a row to $41.8 billion, and U.S. productivity rose by a 1.9% annual rate in the third quarter.

Also Thursday, Philadelphia Fed Bank President Charles Plosser said the central bank's focus on both price stability and employment maximization, referred to as its "dual mandate", could be adding to financial instability. He pushed for an emphasis on price stability.

"In our view, it is a good idea to change the policy-tool focus from quantitative easing, where efficacy is declining and likely costs are rising, to forward guidance, which is probably less costly," wrote Handelsbanken Capital Markets economist Petter Lundvik in a monthly macro update.

The Federal Open Market Committee could start tapering stimulus in the next three meetings, even though job gains are likely to remain fairly weak, said Lundvik.

"The prevailing strong growth makes it easier to taper [quantitative easing] and shift policy to rely more on forward guidance," Lundvik said. The U.S. economy expanded at a faster-than-expected pace in the third quarter, and ISM surveys suggest even stronger growth in the fourth quarter, he said.

In other market action, the dollar (USDJPY)  briefly pushed above ¥100 to hit ¥100.138, according to FactSet. In recent trade, the dollar pared those gains to buy ¥99.92 versus ¥99.43 on Wednesday.

"The most important thing that's going on with the yen is that the capital flow picture is normalizing," said Nomura's Nordvig. "We're seeing a steady flow from Japanese investors into various foreign assets."

While that makes sense because real interest rates in Japan have fallen while global interest rates have gained, those flows had failed to materialize for months after the Bank of Japan announced its quantitative easing, he added.

Japan's gross domestic product expanded at an annualized pace of 1.9% in the third quarter, outstripping the 1.7% average growth estimate from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. Growth in the period, however, slowed sharply from the first and second quarters.

Click to Play Eurozone Recovery Hits the Buffers

The euro zone economy barely expanded in the third quarter, underscoring just how fragile the recovery is, with weakness in the region's engines of growth particularly worrying.

The euro (EURUSD)  edged up to $1.3474 from $1.3458 on Wednesday afternoon in North American trade.

Data showed an unexpected drop in growth for the French economy as well as a slowdown in Germany. The French statistics agency, Insee, reported that third-quarter gross domestic product fell 0.1% in the three months through September. In the second quarter, French GDP grew 0.5%. A survey of economists polled at Bloomberg had forecast no growth. Meanwhile, Germany reported an 0.3% rise in third-quarter GDP, within forecasts, versus a gain of 0.7% in the prior quarter.

The British pound (GBPUSD) rose to $1.6071 from $1.6027 late Wednesday, while the Australian dollar (AUDUSD) was essentially unchanged at 93.23 U.S. cents versus 93.26 U.S. cents.

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of energy service provider Matrix Service (NASDAQ: MTRX  ) jumped 10% today after an analyst upgraded the stock.

So what: Analysts at Sidoti upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "buy" today. This was the only news out about the stock and drove traders to push volume to nearly twice its three-month average. �

Now what: At The Motley Fool, we don't take analyst upgrades too seriously, and over time the market forgets about them as well. This will probably be a short-term bump for the stock, and I wouldn't view it as a reason to buy. Without a new catalyst to push the stock higher, the upgrade will be forgotten and the buyers who hit the market today will leave, pushing the stock lower.

Interested in more info on Matrix Service Company? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now: PROS Holdings Inc.(PRO)

PROS Holdings, Inc. provides pricing and margin optimization software worldwide. It offers PROS Pricing Solution Suite, a set of integrated software products that enables enterprises to apply pricing and margin optimization science to determine, analyze, and execute optimal pricing strategies through the aggregation and analysis of enterprise application data, transactional data, and market information. The PROS Pricing Solution Suite consists of Scientific Analytics to gain insight into pricing performance; Price Optimizer to institute control of pricing policies; and Deal Optimizer to provide guidelines, additional context, and information to sales force. Its products also include PROS Revenue Management Solution Suite, a suite of industry specific revenue management software products for the enterprises in travel target markets. The PROS Revenue Management Solution Suite comprises PROS Analytics to identify hidden revenue leaks and opportunities, PROS Revenue Management product to manage passenger demand with leg- or segment-based revenue optimization, PROS O&D products to manage passenger demand with passenger name record or PNR based revenue optimization, PROS Real-Time Dynamic Pricing product to determine the optimal prices, PROS Group Revenue Management product to manage group request and booking revenues, PROS Network Revenue Planning product to deliver network-oriented fare class segmentation, PROS Cruise Pricing and Revenue Optimization for customers to understand consumers price sensitivities and track competitor behavior, PROS Hotel Revenue Optimization product that helps customers to enhance pricing decision. In addition, the company provides pricing and implementation professional, and ongoing support and maintenance services. It serves customers in the manufacturing, distribution, services, hotel and cruise, and airline industries primarily through its direct sales force. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now: SolarCity Corp (SCTY.W)

SolarCity Corporation (SolarCity), incorporated on June 21, 2006, is engaged in the design, installation and sale or lease of solar energy systems to residential and commercial customers, or sale of electricity generated by solar energy systems to customers. The Company sells renewable energy to its customers. As of December 12, 2012, the Company served customers in 14 states. The Company�� residential customers are individual homeowners and homeowners. The Company�� commercial customers represent several business sectors, including technology, retail, manufacturing, agriculture, nonprofit and houses of worship. The Company has installed solar energy systems for several government entities, including the the United States Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy, and the Department of Homeland Security. The Company purchases major components, such as solar panels and inverters directly from multiple manufacturers. As of September 30, 2012, its primary solar panel suppliers were Trina Solar Limited, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited and Kyocera Solar, Inc., among others, and its primary inverter suppliers were Power-One, Inc., SMA Solar Technology, AG, Schneider Electric SA, Fronius International GmbH and SolarEdge Technologies, among others.

Solar Energy Products

The Company�� solar energy products include Solar Energy Systems, and SolarLease and power purchase agreement finance products. The major components of its solar energy systems include solar panels that convert sunlight into electrical current. Most of its solar energy customers choose to purchase energy from the Company pursuant to one of two payment structures: a SolarLease or a power purchase agreement. In both structures, the Company charges customers a monthly fee for the power produced by its solar energy systems. In the lease structure, this monthly payment is pre-determined and includes a production guarantee. In the power purchase agreem ent structure, the Company charges customers a fee per kilo! w! att hour based on the amount of electricity actually produced by the solar energy system.

Energy Efficiency Products and Services

The Company�� energy efficiency products and services include home energy evaluation and energy efficiency upgrades. The Company sells home energy efficiency evaluations to new solar energy system customers and existing customers. The Company�� energy efficiency upgrade products and services address heating and cooling, air sealing, duct sealing, water heating, insulation, furnaces, weatherization, pool pumps and lighting. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had completed over 13,000 home energy evaluations and performed more than 2,000 energy efficiency upgrades.

Other Energy Products and Services

The Company�� other energy products and services include electric vehicle charging and energy storage. The Company installs electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment that it sources from t hird parties. SolarCity markets EV equipment to residential and commercial customers through retail partnerships with companies, such as The Home Depot, and through EV manufacturers and dealerships, such as its partnership with Tesla Motors, Inc. The Company is developing a battery management system built on its solar energy monitoring communications backbone. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had over 100 energy storage pilot projects under contract. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had sold over 750 charging stations.

Enabling Technologies

The Company�� enabling technologies include SolarBid Sales Management Platform, SolarWorks Customer Management Software, Energy Designer, Home Performance Pro and SolarGuard and PowerGuide Proactive Monitoring Solutions. SolarBid is a sales management platform, which incorporates a database of rate information by utility, sun exposure, roof orientation and a range of other factors to enable a detailed a nalysis and customized graphical presentation of each c! ustom! er! �� sa! vings.

SolarWorks is the software platform the Company uses to track and manage project. Energy Designer is a software application its field engineering auditors use to collect pertinent site-specific design details on a tablet computer. Home Performance Pro is its energy efficiency evaluation platform that incorporates the United States Department of Energy�� Energy Plus simulation engine. Home Performance Pro collects and stores details of a building�� construction and energy use. SolarGuard and PowerGuide provide its customers a view of their home�� or business�� energy generation and consumption.

The Company competes with American Solar Electric, Inc., Astrum Solar, Inc., Petersen Dean, Inc., Real Goods Solar, Inc., REC Solar, Inc., Sungevity, Inc., Trinity Solar, Inc., Verengo, Inc., SunRun Inc. and Ameresco, Inc.

Top Penny Stocks For 2014: Peabody Energy Corporation(BTU)

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in the mining of coal. It mines, prepares, and sells thermal coal to electric utilities and metallurgical coal to industrial customers. The company owns interests in 30 coal mining operations located in the United States and Australia, as well as owns joint venture interest in a Venezuela mine. It is also involved in marketing, brokering, and trading coal. In addition, the company develops a mine-mouth coal-fueled generating plant; and Btu Conversion projects that are designed to convert coal to natural gas or transportation fuels; and clean coal technologies. As of December 31, 2011, it had 9 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Taylor Muckerman and Joel South]

  We have evidence in the form of second-quarter results from Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU  ) , Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX  ) and Southern Copper (NYSE: SCCO  ) , all three of which hinted at where they believe the two industries are headed. Going over the conference calls, Motley Fool analyst Taylor Muckerman gathered a few interesting tidbits and discusses them with fellow analyst Joel South in the following video.�

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now: Solar Energy Initiatives Inc (SNRY)

Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc., incorporated on June 20, 2006, is a provider of solar solutions with three wholly owned subsidiaries focused on projects, solar education and distribution of solar products. Its products include solar panels, inverters, solar thermal systems, system design, financial consulting and analysis, construction management, and maintenance and monitoring. The SNRYPower subsidiary is a developer and manager of municipal and commercial scale solar projects. The Solar-EOS Inc subsidiary is engaged in education and continuous improvement of solar energy trade professionals. The SNRYSolar Inc subsidiary is a wholesale distributor of branded photovoltaic and thermal (water heating) systems selling via a network of dealers throughout the United States and the Caribbean. During the fiscal year ended July 31, 2010 (fiscal 2010), the Company sold its interests in SolarEnergy.com, a domain name and digital property back to its original owner. In February 2011, the sold its Solar (EOS) Division.

Solar EOS, Inc.

Solar EOS, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc. It is an education group dedicated to the creation, training, advancement and continuous improvement of professionals through standard and customized solar training programs and workforce development. It supports the growth of the solar industry through training and education. Solar EOS provides training through its Professional Development Institute and through its Technical Installation Schools, as well as through its Customized Training Programs.

Professional Development Institute offers programs to architects, engineers, general contractors, roofers, plumbers, facility managers and owner�� representatives. The institute offers solar courses to members of the professional communities. Many courses provide needed continuing education units for licensure and professional registrations. Solar EOS is also an approved Ukulele Society of Great Britain (USGB) Educatio! n Provider. These classes are paid for by the professional or his company when taking the course.

Technical Installation Schools focus on workforce development and public/private partnerships. The school trains the next generation of solar thermal and photovoltaic installers in construction best practices, utilizing hands-on training, real world situations, theory and design coursework, and professional development training. Career Services programs, partnerships and dealer relationships drive the job placement of the students. These courses are paid for by the business rather than the individuals.

Customized Training Programs work through partnerships with universities, community and technical colleges, non profits, corporations, professional organizations, municipalities and workforce redevelopment agencies to meet the specific needs of groups of students. The Company writes the curriculum, provides the instructors, coordinates workshops, develops training programs, and hosts webinars and on-demand webcasts. The students do not pay for the course but is paid for through a variety of government programs in the form of a grant. As of October, 2010, the Company entered the fourth class for the Technical Installation School and graduated over 50 students, and trained more than 100 professionals in its Professional Development Institute.

SNRY Solar Inc.

SNRY Solar Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc. (SEI). SNRY Solar is responsible for two areas: wholesale sales and government programs. SNRY Solar represents several manufacturers of solar systems and components in the Photovoltaic (PV), Solar Thermal / Hot Water (HW) and solar pool heating systems. SNRY Solar inventories and sells these components and systems to a network of installers, dealers and other business types across the United States and the Caribbean. SNRY Solar provides technical information, supply coordination and extensive sales support to aide these indep! endent bu! sinesses.. These support functions include but are not limited to preliminary engineering, scoping and drawings to support sales activity as well as lead generation tools, product recommendation and proposal support. SNRY Solar has developed business models which engage community groups, local, state and federal leaders and grass roots organizations to seek available funds to support job creation through solar.

SNRY POWER Inc.

SNRY POWER Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary that focuses on developing solar photovoltaic (PV) panel systems for either mounting on the ground or on rooftops. These systems, once installed, generate electricity that is sold to various third parties including utilities, home and business owners, municipalities and other government agencies. In the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) program, the Company builds the PV system at no charge to the host (the municipality or other customer). The system is built on space (either land or rooftop) provided by the host in exchange for a reduction in the hosts payment for electricity (usually expressed in cents per kilowatt hour (KWh).

The Company is constructing a one mega watt (MW) ground mounted solar PV system on land provided by the Cherokee School District in North Carolina. It has secured construction financing to build 50% of the system and considering selling the system in fiscal 2010.

Solar panels are solar cells electrically connected together and encapsulated in a weatherproof package. The Company purchases from Suntech, GE Solar, BP Solar and other vendors in the Unites States and off-shore. Inverters transform direct current (DC), electricity produced by solar panels into alternating current (AC), electricity used in homes and businesses. Inverters are used in every on-grid solar power system and feed power either directly into the structure�� electrical circuit or into the utility grid. In North America, it sells branded inverters designed for use in residential and commercia! l systems.! Inverters it sources include models spanning a power range of 2.5 to 500 kilowatts. Its inverters are manufactured by Solectria, Xantrex, SMA Technologies, AG and PV Powered. Solar thermal systems include a solar collector, which gathers solar radiation to heat air or water for domestic, commercial or industrial use, piping and/or pump(s) to move heated water and a tank for storage. The Company provides dealers and customers with a variety of services, including system design, energy efficiency, financial consulting and analysis, construction management and maintenance and monitoring. Solar electric and solar thermal systems are designed to take into account the customer�� location, site conditions and energy needs.

The Company competes with groSolar, Sunpower, Sunwize, BP Solar, Evergreen Solar and GE Solar.

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now: Joy Global Inc.(JOYG)

Joy Global Inc. engages in the manufacture and servicing of mining equipment for the extraction coal, copper, iron ore, oil sands, and other minerals worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Underground Mining Machinery and Surface Mining Equipment. The Underground Mining Machinery segment produces continuous miners, longwall shearers, powered roof supports, armored face conveyors, shuttle cars, flexible conveyor trains, roof bolters, battery haulers, continuous haulage systems, feeder breakers, conveyor systems, high angle conveyors, and crushing equipment, as well as longwall mining systems consisting of powered roof supports, an armored face conveyor, and a longwall shearer. This segment also rebuilds and services equipment, and sells replacement parts and consumables in support of installed base. The Surface Mining Equipment segment produces electric mining shovels, walking draglines, and rotary blasthole drills for open-pit mining operations. This segment also sells used electric mining shovels; and provides logistics and life cycle management support services, including equipment erections, relocations, inspections, service, repairs, rebuilds, upgrades, used equipment, new and used parts, enhancement kits, and training, as well as offers electric motor rebuilds and other products and services to the non-mining industrial segment. In addition, it offers wheel loaders, as well as jack-up rigs and ancillary equipment for the oil and gas drilling industries. Joy Global Inc. sells its products primarily to global and regional mining companies. The company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now: EcoloCap Solutions Inc (ECOS)

EcoloCap Solutions Inc. (EcoloCap), incorporated on March 18, 2004, is a development stage company. The Company is an integrated network of environmentally focused technology companies that design, develop, manufacture and sell cleaner alternative energy products.

The Company through its subsidiary Micro Bubble Technologies Inc. (MBT), developed and manufactures M-Fuel. The Company also developed the Carbon Nano Tube Battery (CNT-Battery), and the Nano Li- Battery both recyclable, rechargeable batteries. MBT has also developed a process that blends non-miscible liquids (oil and water) on a submicron level in order to create a non-emulsified fuel product that it calls EM-Fuel.

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now: Seadrill Limited(SDRL)

Seadrill Limited, an offshore drilling contractor, provides offshore drilling services to the oil and gas industries worldwide. It also offers platform drilling, well intervention, and engineering services. As of March 31, 2011 the company owned and operated 54 offshore drilling units, which consist of drillships, jack-up rigs, semisubmersible rigs, and tender rigs for operations in shallow and deepwater areas, as well as in benign and harsh environments. Seadrill Limited was founded in 1972 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL  ) is already one of the biggest ultra-deepwater drilling rig owners in the world and now it's putting another $2.4 billion into the market to solidify its position as a leader in offshore drilling. The company announced the order of four more ultra-deepwater rigs at $600 million each for delivery in 2015. It now has nine drillships on order, which should significantly increase revenue over the next three years.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Tuesday, Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Domestically, and adding to the point, the Gulf of Mexico is an opportunity for rapid growth in ultra-deepwater drilling. As my Foolish colleague Travis Hoium pointed out in January, Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL  ) , a competitor to Halliburton, has about half its fleet contracted into 2017, demonstrating oil and gas companies' commitment to the region and belief that returns and finds will be sustainable. With the U.S. pushing for increased energy independence, Halliburton's name should be called often when it comes to Gulf of Mexico servicing and equipment contracts.

Best Energy Companies To Own In Right Now: SolarCity Corp (SCTY)

SolarCity Corporation (SolarCity), incorporated on June 21, 2006, is engaged in the design, installation and sale or lease of solar energy systems to residential and commercial customers, or sale of electricity generated by solar energy systems to customers. The Company sells renewable energy to its customers. As of December 12, 2012, the Company served customers in 14 states. The Company�� residential customers are individual homeowners and homeowners. The Company�� commercial customers represent several business sectors, including technology, retail, manufacturing, agriculture, nonprofit and houses of worship. The Company has installed solar energy systems for several government entities, including the the United States Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy, and the Department of Homeland Security. The Company purchases major components, such as solar panels and inverters directly from multiple manufacturers. As of September 30, 2012, its primary solar panel suppliers were Trina Solar Limited, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited and Kyocera Solar, Inc., among others, and its primary inverter suppliers were Power-One, Inc., SMA Solar Technology, AG, Schneider Electric SA, Fronius International GmbH and SolarEdge Technologies, among others.

Solar Energy Products

The Company�� solar energy products include Solar Energy Systems, and SolarLease and power purchase agreement finance products. The major components of its solar energy systems include solar panels that convert sunlight into electrical current. Most of its solar energy customers choose to purchase energy from the Company pursuant to one of two payment structures: a SolarLease or a power purchase agreement. In both structures, the Company charges customers a monthly fee for the power produced by its solar energy systems. In the lease structure, this monthly payment is pre-determined and includes a production guarantee. In the power purchase agreement structure, the Company charges customers a fee per kilowatt! hour based on the amount of electricity actually produced by the solar energy system.

Energy Efficiency Products and Services

The Company�� energy efficiency products and services include home energy evaluation and energy efficiency upgrades. The Company sells home energy efficiency evaluations to new solar energy system customers and existing customers. The Company�� energy efficiency upgrade products and services address heating and cooling, air sealing, duct sealing, water heating, insulation, furnaces, weatherization, pool pumps and lighting. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had completed over 13,000 home energy evaluations and performed more than 2,000 energy efficiency upgrades.

Other Energy Products and Services

The Company�� other energy products and services include electric vehicle charging and energy storage. The Company installs electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment that it sources from third parties. SolarCity markets EV equipment to residential and commercial customers through retail partnerships with companies, such as The Home Depot, and through EV manufacturers and dealerships, such as its partnership with Tesla Motors, Inc. The Company is developing a battery management system built on its solar energy monitoring communications backbone. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had over 100 energy storage pilot projects under contract. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had sold over 750 charging stations.

Enabling Technologies

The Company�� enabling technologies include SolarBid Sales Management Platform, SolarWorks Customer Management Software, Energy Designer, Home Performance Pro and SolarGuard and PowerGuide Proactive Monitoring Solutions. SolarBid is a sales management platform, which incorporates a database of rate information by utility, sun exposure, roof orientation and a range of other factors to enable a detailed analysis and customized graphical presentation of each customer� �s savin! gs.

SolarWorks is the software platform the Company uses to track and manage project. Energy Designer is a software application its field engineering auditors use to collect pertinent site-specific design details on a tablet computer. Home Performance Pro is its energy efficiency evaluation platform that incorporates the United States Department of Energy�� Energy Plus simulation engine. Home Performance Pro collects and stores details of a building�� construction and energy use. SolarGuard and PowerGuide provide its customers a view of their home�� or business�� energy generation and consumption.

The Company competes with American Solar Electric, Inc., Astrum Solar, Inc., Petersen Dean, Inc., Real Goods Solar, Inc., REC Solar, Inc., Sungevity, Inc., Trinity Solar, Inc., Verengo, Inc., SunRun Inc. and Ameresco, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY  )
  You know how I'm a staunch advocate for profitability?... Well, throw that out the window just this once!

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  1. On-site green power generation
  Wal-Mart ranks first�among U.S. companies for on-site green power generation. While�Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) lays claim to impressive statistics like "100% green power use", it achieves that percentage primarily by buying renewable energy credits. Wal-Mart has 180 renewable energy projects around the world, including more than 150 solar installations and 26 fuel cell projects. The company's goal for 2013 is to bring solar power to 100 more store sites. Solar City (NASDAQ: SCTY  ) does the bulk of the Wal-Mart's installations, if investors are interested in that angle.

Honoring Advisors Who Serve(d): Veterans Day, 2013

Since it's Veterans Day, it’s obviously a good time to rerun this Advisors Who Serve(d) slideshow that ran on Fourth of July and Memorial Day. ThinkAdvisor honored those advisors and partners to advisors—and one famous non-advisor who influences the advisory world, PIMCO’s Bill Gross—who served in the armed forces of the United States.

This is the third year we’ve published this slideshow that is meant, in a small way, to thank all those who served their country. This slideshow features seven “new” advisors from this year and four from Advisors Who Serve(d) slideshows in the years before.

We’ve created a special landing page for you to view our previous slideshows as well. The seven new people on the following pages responded to our call this year to share the particulars of their service—some in the past and some still serving—and, in most instances, some photos of themselves when they were in service. 

Most telling to us, however, were the vets’ responses to how their military service helped prepared them for their advisory careers. We began this series of slideshows in 2011 because anecdotally there seemed to be a large percentage of advisors, both men and women, who had served in one of the branches of the military over the years but in many cases had not received the appreciation they were due for their service.

The comments of this group on their military experiences speak for themselves—profound and humorous, patriotic and often self-deprecating, but humbly proud of their service as well.

(Check out previous Advisors Who Serve(d) installments from 2011 and 2012 for Memorial Day and Fourth of July.)

Name: John Grover Wilson

Title/Company: Managing Director, Senior Investment Advisor — Raymond James & Associates

Branch: USAF-retired

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: Lt. at beginning, Col. at the end

Service Dates: 1968-1992

Work you did: Fighter Pilot, F-4, RF-4 and others

Brief story that stands out from your service time: Hold the Air Medal (2) and Distinguished Flying Cross from serving in Vietnam. I’m presently the Chief Chaplain of the Volunteer State Veterans Honor Guard. In my spare time, I presided over 250 military funerals with honor. I am presently on the steering committee for the Medal of Honor Society Conference in 2014 to be held in Knoxville. Flew two tours in SEA. Funny story: I was a White House Social Aide during the Nixon administration.

Name: David S. Chang

Title/Company: President, CEO — WealthBridge

Branch: Army

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: Cadet; Major

Service Dates: 1998-2008 (Active duty) 2009 to Present (Hawaii Army National Guard)

Work you did: West Point Cadet, Armor Officer, Ground Scout Platoon Leader, Military Intelligence Officer

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I spent 15 months in Northern Iraq. The work hours were grueling but what made life bearable were the soldiers I served with, we were all one big happy family. I knew that my XO (executive officer) went to high school with Rachael Ray. He knew I was a big fan of hers, especially since I am an eater! During Christmas my XO brought me up to the front of our commanders and staff after a normal meeting and surprised me with an autographed photo of Rachael Ray made out to me! It was one of the best Christmas gifts I got, I am very appreciative that he took the time to reach out to her and she in turn took time to write to me. It was a definite morale booster!

Name: John Thomas Deutsch

Title/Company: Senior VP, Investments — Raymond James & Associates

Branch: U.S. Navy

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: Seaman to CWO(4)

Service Dates: 1962-1985

Work you did: Avionics Commissioned Warrant Officer W-4

Brief story that stands out from your service time: Too many great shipmates and funny stories for one to stand out but, late in my career, I served on the USS Coral Sea CV-43. Our Battle Group as well as the Nimitz’s were stationed in the Indian Ocean in support of the Iranian hostages rescue attempt on Aug. 24, 1980. Tragically, the operation was unsuccessful and ended with the loss of aircraft and eight US service members. Memorably, I was walking on the flight deck with support attack aircraft fully loaded out after midnight when our Captain, Dick Dunleavy, announced on the 1MC that we would be standing down because of the failed outcome. That was one of the first publicized uses of special forces to effect U.S. policy objectives. Today, 30 years hence, both Iran and heroic special forces operators remain in our daily headlines and in my memory.

Name: Kevin Hott

Title/Company: Financial Advisor — Merrill Lynch

Branch: U.S. Navy

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: E1-E4/Seaman Recruit to Petty Officer Third Class

Service Dates: 1997-2001

Work you did: Gas Turbine Systems Electrician

Brief story that stands out from your service time: The first morning after arriving at Recruit Training Center Great Lakes I found myself being awoken abruptly by the Drill Instructor. He was screaming in my face, nose-to-nose, after I overslept by a “few minutes.” I learned quickly when you’re the only one not in formation you get the wrong kind of attention. While we were deployed in the Mediterranean, I remember the roller coaster of emotions we experienced when we all learned of the USS Cole bombing. Oh, and how can I forget the swim call we had in the middle of the Mediterranean? When you have folks jumping off the side of a destroyer into 13,000 feet of water it’s not a pleasant experience when you’re in the water and realize the ship isn’t completely stopped.  Name: David Latch

Title/Company: President — Frederick Advisors

Branch: U.S. Army

Rank held at beginning of service and at end:  E-3, O-4

Service Dates: 1977-1999

Work you did: Aircraft Maintenance, then Medical Logistics

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I was nearing the end of my first enlistment and was unsure about re-enlisting. My NCIOC, whom I really didn’t think much of, told me to write down the pros and cons of both staying in and getting out. Once I did that, I became a “lifer.”

Name: James Schwartz

Title/Company: Senior Advisor — Strategic Wealth Advisors

Branch: U.S. Air Force

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: 2nd Lt to Captain

Service Dates: 1985-1997

Work you did: A-10 and F-16 Fighter Pilot

Brief story that stands out from your service time: The first year in the USAF was spent in pilot training near Del Rio, Texas. While learning to fly the T-37, student pilots must become proficient in acrobatics, including loops, barrel rolls and split-S's. The split-S is a maneuver where the pilot rolls the jet upside down then pulls back on the stick forcing the jet to fly straight down then continue to a level flight path heading the opposite direction (think of the second half of a loop). As I went through my split-S maneuver and the nose of the aircraft was going straight down toward the earth, my instructor, sitting to my right, said, “Jim, you better pull a little harder.”

Top 10 Insurance Stocks To Buy Right Now

And so I did—probably a little too quickly and a little too hard. The G's (acceleration one feels on their body at the bottom of a roller coaster) increased from zero to 3, then 4, and finally 5. At 5 G's a 150-pound person weighs 750 pounds! Well, my instructor wasn’t prepared for such a quick transition to 5 G's and he passed out! I finished my split-S back to level flight but it took my instructor some time to regain consciousness and figure out where he was (later he divulged to me that when he came to he thought we had crashed). At this point the flight was over (due to the loss of consciousness episode) and I flew him back to the base where after two days he was back in the saddle. As I look back at that incident, as a new student pilot, I have to say I was a little scared when I realized my instructor (the person I counted on to be there when I screwed up) had lost consciousness and it was up to me to bring him home. Name: Robert S. Peterson

Title/Company: Vice President, Investments — Raymond James & Associates

Branch: U.S. Army

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: Pvt. to Sergeant

Service Dates: 1970-1973

Work you did: Military Intelligence, Linguist

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I was trained as an interrogator and a linguist in Laotian. I spent most of my time teaching English to foreign nationals.

Name: Bill Gross

Title/Company: PIMCO - founder and co-chief investment officer

Branch: U.S. Navy

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: LT JG – Lieutenant, Junior Grade

Service Dates:  1967 - 1970

Work you did: N/A

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I arrived at the Pensacola Naval Air Station ready to fulfill my enlistment and ready to become a fighter pilot. And like all raw recruits, we were put in the capable hands of a drill sergeant. Remember, the drill sergeant’s duty is to humiliate and harass us to the breaking point and beyond. And me, the cocky college boy, was so shaken by the experience that it was one of the military moments I remember most vividly. I spent half the night cleaning my rifle, and failing the inspections nonetheless. It took me so long to make up my bunk to my sergeant’s specifications that I slept on the floor. I did push-ups and chin-ups and marched and ran obstacle courses but my sergeant was never satisfied. “You’ll never fly a jet Mr. Gross!,” he screamed. “BLIMPS are more your style!” I ended up flying neither.

Meredith Schneider

Title/Company: Principal — Schneider Wealth Management

Branch/Rank: US Army - 2nd Lt through Captain

Service Dates: June ’92 - Aug. ’96

Work you did: Platoon Leader, Maintenance Officer, S-1, Civil Affairs Officer

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I am honored to have had the opportunity to meet so many people from all over the country who served with great dedication. I will never forget the "Any Solider" letters we received while in Bosnia. Some days they were the only link to life outside of our tents since we had no phone, television, newspaper, Internet, and often no mail from loved ones. I remember a letter in particular from a young boy in Rhode Island who wrote in reply to a letter I wrote back to him. He wrote, "Receiving your letter was the happiest day of my life." Little did he know how happy I was to receive his letter of support.

Harold Evensky

One of the few people in the advisor community who is identified by one name, like a Brazilian soccer player, Evensky is the chairman and cofounder of the wealth management firm of Evensky & Katz in Coral Gables, Fla. He is the author of numerous books, is now an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University and among his honors has been membership of the IA25. But Harold is also a veteran, serving in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army as a Captain from 1968-1971.

Joni Youngwirth

Folks from Commonwealth Financial Network know Youngwirth quite well, as do other advisors who have benefited from her practice management knowledge delivered in speeches at national conferences, or who have read some of her prescriptions in the pages of Investment Advisor, for instance. 

They may know of her practical, disciplined bent when it comes to practice management, but what they may not know is that this partner to advisors previously served with the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of first lieutenant.

Youngwirth is Commonwealth Financial Network's managing principal, practice management, and a regular contributor to Investment Advisor.

-----

Check out previous Advisors Who Serve(d) installments from 2011 and 2012 for Memorial Day and Fourth of July.

We know there are more of you out there who served, so please consider adding your name and story to the growing list of Advisors Who Serve(d) by filling out this simple questionnaire at ThinkAdvisor.

Bitcoin flaw could allow group to wrest control of currency

University researchers say they've found an unnoticed defect in Bitcoin that could undermine the whole system, turning the decentralized currency into a centralized one.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Bitcoin has an inherent flaw that could allow a powerful few to wrest control of the now-decentralized currency. All it would take is a group of cheaters.

That's according to a research paper released Monday by Cornell University post-doctoral fellow Ittay Eyal and Professor Emin Gün Sirer.

The flaw is due to the nature of how bitcoins are created -- people "mine" them by solving a complex puzzle with their computers. If used correctly,the system is set up so that someone guesses correctly every 10 minutes, and the winner gets 25 bitcoins. Because people compete against one another for the digital currency, bitcoins are mostly evenly distributed.

But bitcoin miners could exploit a weakness in the system that would give them a greater chance of getting bitcoins than rival miners: Solving a puzzle gives miners a much higher chance of solving the next one, and those solutions are typically stored in a public log called a "blockchain."

But solutions don't have to be publicized. If you solve a puzzle and keep it secret, you can start working on the next one and let everyone else keep mining in the wrong spot.

That unfair advantage becomes even more apparent when selfish, secretive miners group together and pool computing resources to solve puzzles. The bigger the group, the more frequently they win. If a group gets large enough, it could take control of the currency.

Related story: London Bitcoin exchange off to a rocky start

If that happens, bitcoins wouldn't be any different than dollars, yen and yuan -- currency whose supply is controlled by a powerful, central bank. The bitcoin control group could easily drive the value of the digital currency up or down by adding or withholding bitcoins from the system.

That could disrupt the very reason many have decided to use the four-year old currency, which represented a $2.6 billion market as of Monday morning. Many libertarians like the idea of a currency that has no government backing or centralized authority.

"No one wants to bring down Bitcoin," Eyal said. "But if you know you can increase your revenue by a bit, you're going to join the selfish pool."

Despite rampant fluctuations in in valuation, the price of bitcoins barely budged after the report was made public.

!   How I make money mining bitcoins

In the report, Eyal and Sirer say there already exist groups of miners that are big enough to take advantage of their selfish mining theory. And while they haven't seen anyone engage in that kind of strategy yet, it could be happening in the shadows.

Related story: Bitcoin mania is back! But is it a bubble?

As a solution, Eyal and Sirer suggest a bitcoin mining rule change: The total mining power of one group shouldn't be able to exceed one-quarter of the mining power of the bitcoin mining community as a whole. That tweak, which could be implemented with a simple software update, would prevent any one group from taking total control of the currency.

There are currently 11.9 billion bitcoins in circulation. Some bitcoin users tend to get more attention, such as those illicit buyers at online black markets like the recently closed Silk Road. They tend to be drawn to the anonymous nature of the currency.

But bitcoins have also attracted some major business interests. Baidu (BIDU), a Chinese web services firm, recently started accepting bitcoin payments. And venture capital firms have begun investing in startups, like Circle Internet Financial, that make bitcoin payment tools.

Home Depot Apologizes for Racist Tweet

Getty Images NEW YORK -- Home improvement maker Home Depot (HD) on Thursday apologized for a tweet that showed a picture of two African-American drummers with a person in a gorilla mask in between them and asked: "Which drummer is not like the others?" The tweet, from Home Depot's official Twitter account, @HomeDepot, was part of a "College Gameday" college football promotion on ESPN. It was quickly pulled, but not before people took screen shots of it and it was widely circulated on social media. NBC and CNBC, among others, reported on the Tweet.

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.@HomeDepot Apologizes Profusely After An Insensitive Tweet http://t.co/s2gQKC6Z5d pic.twitter.com/GG3ELegj2t

- BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) November 8, 2013

Home Depot said Friday that it has fired the person and outside agency that was responsible for the tweet, but didn't disclose their names. "We have zero tolerance for anything so stupid and offensive," said Stephen Holmes, spokesman for the Atlanta-based company. Holmes said the company is "closely" reviewing its social media procedures to determine "how this could have happened, and how to ensure it never happens again." Allen Adamson, managing director of branding firm Landor Associates, said the tweet is "the worst possible message Home Depot can send out ... even if it gets attributed to stupidity." "In a Twitter world where everyone can see everything instantly I think you'll see more rather than less of this because people tweet before they think," Adamson said. Home Depot isn't the first company to get in trouble for offensive tweets. In September, AT&T (T) apologized for a Twitter message that commemorated the Sept. 11 attacks because of complaints the company was using the event to promote itself. And KitchenAid (WHR) faced backlash in 2012 when one of its employees mistakenly posted a tweet about President Barack Obama's grandmother death on the official KitchenAid Twitter account. Percentage of U.S. population who visited in March: 14.2%  Revenue: $73.3 billion  1-year stock price change: 27.56%  Store category: Discount & variety stores

Court rejects Cooper Tire claim in Apollo dispute

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — The Delaware Court of Chancery has rejected a claim by Cooper Tire & Rubber that Apollo Tyres breached the terms of an agreement to buy Cooper Tire.

The decision handed down Friday is the latest snag in a monthslong dispute that has delayed Apollo's takeover of Findlay, Ohio-based Cooper.

On Oct. 4, Cooper asked the Delaware court to compel Apollo to close the deal, originally valued at $2.2 billion. Cooper asserted that Apollo was delaying reaching an agreement with the union representing Cooper employees. An arbitrator had ruled in September that Cooper and Apollo must enter into new agreements with the union prior to closing on their merger.

But in a partial ruling Friday, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock concluded that Apollo did not breach its obligation to quickly reach a pact with the United Steelworkers union.

In a statement, Cooper expressed disappointment in the court's decision, adding that it is assessing its options and waiting to see how the court rules on other matters in the case.

Apollo, which is based in India, praised the decision. "Apollo continues to believe in the merits of the combination and is committed to finding a sensible way forward," the company said in a statement.

Apollo has said it is working diligently to reach a settlement with the union, but contends that a reduction of the deal's price is warranted.

Cooper Tire's shares ended Friday down $3.08, or 11.5%, at $23.82, well below the deal's original buyout price of $35 a share. They recovered 83 cents, or about 3.5%, to $24.65 in extended trading.

Last month, Apollo filed a counterclaim against Cooper, asking for a judgment that Cooper hasn't provided documents and met other requirements for a merger.

The boards of both companies and Cooper shareholders have approved the proposed buyout, first announced in June. But it has been delayed by talks with the United Steelworkers union, which represents Cooper workers in Findlay, Ohio, and Texarkana, A! rk.

The deal would create the seventh-largest tire company in the world.

Twitter Shares Rise 73% in First Trades on NYSE

There's no doubt that Twitter is trending. The microblogging service launched its initial public offering Thursday with great fanfare. Mark Lennihan/AP But not many individual investors were able to scoop up shares of the seven-year-old company at the IPO price. That's because the big boys -- institutional investors such as mutual funds and hedge funds -- grabbed those. So the question is -- in 140 characters or less -- should you buy in now that it's trading like any other issue? There's no easy answer, but we'll run through some of the pros and cons. First, Twitter (TWTR) is off to a fast start. The initial offering of 70 million shares was priced at $26 dollars, and the first trade was at $45.10 a share. That's a 73 percent jump. Trading, no doubt, will be very volatile for at least the next few days. Proponents like it because Twitter has become part of the vernacular, especially for people age 18-to-34 -- those most targeted by advertisers. They live in the Twitterverse, sending out messages of up to 140 characters. Some are as mundane as what you had for lunch today. Others are earthshaking such as when Twitter played a key role in the Arab Spring revolution. You can post your messages, and you follow other people who post. Entertainers Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga all have more than 40 million followers. President Obama has nearly that many. The company has 232 million users worldwide, and its user base is still growing rapidly, up 39 percent from a year ago. The IPO price was raised several times in the weeks leading up the Thursday debut here, but still came in at what analysts consider a reasonable level, at least in comparison Facebook (FB) and other social networking companies. Now for some of the cons. The biggest negative is that Twitter has never made any money; never turned a profit. And it doesn't expect to earn a profit until 2015 at the earliest. Twitter is often compared to Facebook, but remember, Facebook was growing at a faster pace when it was the same size as Twitter is now. So it's public offering comes at an earlier stage of development. Analysts say the company's effort to monetize its huge fan base is still at an early stage. It hasn't proven that advertisers can successfully appeal to its audience, and that users won't be turned off be turned off by too many adds. And Twitter's pace of growth has slowed for seven consecutive quarters. There are still plenty of skeptics who say Twitter could be a flash in the pan. They say there's no guarantee it will even survive. The bottom line is, many advisers say there is no urgency to get into the stock right now. It's likely to be volatile of the coming days and weeks. So you might want to take a little bit of time to judge the company and its stock market value, before taking a leap of faith.

Some tweet gaffes have arisen from companies poking fun at -- or making light of -- deadly serious events. Such was the case with a Kenneth Cole tweet gone awry. The fashion designer took heavy flak last winter for a tweet that riffed off the pro-democracy protests in Egypt's Tahrir Square to hawk his new collection: "Millions are in Uproar in Cairo. Rumor has it they heard our new spring collection is now available online," he tweeted. The attempt at a comical spin was not well received.

1. Kenneth Cole Winks at Egypt's Unrest to Hawk a Sale

"The company attempted to leverage dry humor and make a gentle, joking reference to current events, however Cairo is clearly not the best opportunity," Wisneski says.

Best Buy's Latest Holiday Ad: Gutsy, but So Naive

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Alamy Best Buy (BBY) is getting unduly cocky in its latest holiday ad. Comic actor Will Arnett reads a revised version of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," featuring a father who knocks off his holiday shopping list with a single trip to the consumer electronics superstore. Arnett goes on to call Best Buy "the great showroom floor." The ad closes with "Your Ultimate Holiday Showroom" as graphic text. Best Buy is clearly trying to take back the word "showroom" at a time when "showrooming" has come to mean consumers kicking the tires of products at local retailers only to order them for less online. That's a real problem for bricks-and-mortar businesses, but nonetheless, Best Buy is making its actual showroom the centerpiece of this holiday season's marketing campaign. That's gutsy. It's also an ill-advised strategy. The Fatal Flaw in Best Buy's Turnaround Story Best Buy has certainly won back investors. The stock has nearly quadrupled since bottoming out last December. There's also probably nobody as confident of Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly. "A year ago people said that showrooming would kill Best Buy" he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview this week. "I think that Best Buy has killed showrooming." That's a brazen claim; Best Buy's fundamentals don't match its stock price. Same-store sales -- the key metric in the retail industry that measures how much the average established store is raking in relative to a year earlier -- have been consistently negative for the past three years. The store-level situation is also actually worse than even the reported numbers suggest. Best Buy is one of the growing number of retailers that include online sales in their same-store sales calculations. Dividing the growing number of BestBuy.com sales into the chain's store count artificially inflates the amount of merchandise that physical stores claim to be selling. No offense, Best Buy, but until you legitimately grow sales at the individual store level, showboating about your showroom is premature. You Can't Spell Holiday without H-O-L-D Between the buoyant stock price, its CEO's bravado, and the perpetually smug Arnett as a pitchman, one might expect Best Buy was headed for a blowout holiday shopping season. Well, analysts don't seem to think so. Analysts see Best Buy's sales sliding nearly 11 percent during the company's fiscal fourth quarter. Amazon.com (AMZN) on the other hand -- the company that supposedly Best Buy is winning the showrooming battle against -- is expected to soar 22 percent during retail's hottest quarter. Wall Street does see Best Buy's profitability continuing to improve, but that's a testament to Joly's skill at cutting costs and improving profit margins. He has certainly done a commendable job on that front, and that's ultimately the reason why the stock has been such a big winner in 2013. However, when it comes to the store's actual popularity, Best Buy is nowhere close to being the retailer that it used to be. The Long Way Down Best Buy has had more than a few bad breaks along the way. The economic slowdown didn't help. The widespread decision among consumers' to take a pass on high-priced 3-D TVs took a bite out of the chain's big-ticket sales. However, the digital revolution has stung Best Buy in more ways than merely the showrooming trend. It's true that more and more customers are armed with smartphones these days. Why buy a stereo receiver or a computer monitor at Best Buy when a few seconds on a smartphone can locate the same product being sold for a lot less online? Best Buy really can't compete on price with Amazon and other Web-based retailers that don't have to pay up for a retail presence. Worse, the smartphone and tablet revolutions hurt Best Buy by pulling the rug out from under its sales of vast quantities of physical media and software -- CDs, DVDs, and video games -- the products that Best Buy once used to lure customers in more often. You may only need a new dishwasher once a decade, but there are new music, movie, and game releases every week. Now that media has gone digital and downloadable, Best Buy has to find new ways to encourage shoppers to trek out to its stores. So far, it hasn't done that. If we go by the same-store sales figures and analyst holiday forecasts, Best Buy's brash advertising strategy amounts to little more than whistling past the graveyard -- and there's a plot waiting for it.